


Bed Wars

by toomanycups



Category: Fallout 3
Genre: Angst, Bickering, Comfort, F/M, Romance, Sharing a Bed, jk they're just going to be beating the shit outta each other, maybe some smooching later?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-25
Updated: 2015-07-04
Packaged: 2018-04-06 02:31:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4204650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toomanycups/pseuds/toomanycups
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Lone Wanderer has recruited her old childhood enemy, Butch Deloria, to be her companion. When you're spending time out in the wastes, you're going to need some sleep. And beds don't necessarily always come in pairs.</p><p>(A look in to the Lone Wanderer's and Butch's growing relationship, but only from the point of them complaining about sharing beds during their adventures.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Home Sweet Home

Peeling off week old, gut-crusted armor wasn't as satisfying as Reese found it to be. Usually, it's a blessing to be able to rip off her protective gunksuit, slip on that oversized ratted shirt she miraculously found in the middle of the wasteland, and jump into her bed in Megaton until she was well-rested enough that she felt a sense of accomplishment.

It would be, if she hadn't decided letting Butch Deloria tag along was a good idea.

"Listen, _girl_ , if you think I'm paying out my chiseled ass in caps to stay at Moriarty's dump you've gotta 'nother thing comin'. Scoot over!"

"First of all, I already told you I have a tab there you can use. Second of all, HELL NO."

She protectively grabbed her blanket and stretched herself out so she was covering all available spots on the bed. Butch pushed air out of his nose, an expression crossing his face that bordered on bewildered and frustrated. Reese couldn't help but to lift her lips into a smirk, pulling the covers slightly over her face.

"... Besides, your ass ain't that nice."

This set him off.

Some sort of angry noise emerged from him as he started to violently throw his tunnel snake jacket off onto Reese's desk and then reaching for his vault uniform zipper. Reese took affirmative action--not knowing what Butch was plotting to do-- shot up, and grabbed his hands before he made another move.

"J-Just what the _hell_ do you think you're doing??"

He looked down at her and raised an eyebrow. "The hell does it look like I'm doin'? The Butch-man is ready for some z's and when the Butch-man wants some z's he takes off-a these." He motioned at his clothes really quick before Reese could roll her eyes to the other side of the universe.

"Okay, yeah, but? Gross? Don't do that in front of me." She released his hands and laid herself back down. Just about when she was going to get comfy she heard a zip, a quick rustle of clothes, and then she was smushed to the wall. Seriously. Butch had jumped into the bed and pushed her against the wall in most-likely attempt to make sure she can't push him out.

"I'm stayin' in the fuckin' bed."

"Deloria, I swear to--"

"I'm fuckin' stayin'.

"No, you're--"

"Nighty night, nosebleed."

If she wasn't against the wall enough, he managed to press his back into her more until she wasn't able to breathe much at all. It was time for retaliation. Reese had freed one of her arms and began tapping his face repeatedly with her hand.

"The fuck? Cut it out!" Butch tried grabbing her hand, but she kept moving it around, hitting him all the same. The Tunnel Snake had heard some gasped mumbling from against the wall, but instead of figuring out what she had said, he began rolling on top of her.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you, cupcake. Ya gotta speak up. Butchie's hearin' ain't too good no more."

Her efforts to annoyingly smack his face till he stopped pushing her into the wall was useless. It was time to push back. Shoving herself off the wall, also trying to get the dead weight off of her spine, she finally got to shout, "Fine! Okay! We can share the bed, just stop touching me, you _prick_!"

He couldn't help showing off a toothy grin. "You would like a prick, wouldn't ya, goody-two-shoes?"

"Ew, what??" Her face started to heat up from embarrassment. "As if from you, Deloria!"

Butch started to cackle, but finally let off of Reese and settled onto the other side of the bed. "Yeah, yeah," he waved her off, "If you wanted to get close to the Butch-man, you just had to say so, girl."

She was done for the night. Reese wiped her hand down her face in frustration, but let it go and turned over again to settle. "Just keep to your side of the bed. I'll talk to Moira in the morning about getting you your own mattress." She felt Butch nod, but he didn't say anything. Curious, she looked over her shoulder to see his back facing her. His breathing had stilled and in moments he was lightly snoring into his pillow.

"Huh, that was quick," she mumbled to herself. "Guess his first week in the Wastelands tuckered the lil guy out." Turning back over she hugged the blankets to herself and began to smile. He wasn't so bad when he was sleeping. He wasn't that bad of a traveling companion, either. Before slipping into dreamland, she found herself feeling sad over the thought that she wouldn't get to share a bed and be this close to someone again for a while. It was a nice feeling having a familiar living being next to you as you slept.

Even if it was Butch fucking Deloria.


	2. New Vice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reese and Butch crash in an abandoned trailer for the night.

"Oh yeah, come to daddy."

Recently having slaughtered a hoard of rampaging Super Mutants, the wanderers decided taking refuge in the now abandoned trailer had been a good idea. The sun was setting across the scorching landscape and the two were ready to pass out before continuing their trek through dangerous downtown DC. Reese took a seat at a small table occupied by some cups and playing cards to patch herself up with stimpaks while Butch investigated the rest of the trailer, scavenging for anything useful. Or, at least, anything _he_ had found useful.

After digging through the majority of the boxes left behind-- that were more-than-likely placed by Super Mutants which he would rather not think about-- his eyes finally fell onto the one thing he had been dreaming of for the past couple days of traveling. A bed. One with a matress. There were no sheets or pillows to work with, but it was still a bed and not the cardboard boxes they had been finding scattered about the wastelands. Butch quickly made work of jumping down onto the beautiful piece of dull cotton and annoying pointing springs. He didn't mind though. It was heaven to Butch. 

As soon as he attempted to shut his eyes and let slumber take over he was disturbed by his fellow tunnel snakes voice calling out to him. Not understanding what she was saying, he let out a groan and turned over to look at her. Reese was done healing herself and had already finished reloading the guns they had incase of a midnight raid on the trailer. Her eyes were heavy and staring emotionless down at him. 

"What?" He raised an eyebrow, too tired for anything more than straight to the point. She got up to unlace and step out of her boots, her armor already off to the side. "Move over." The tone of her voice said she felt the same way Butch did. All he did was make a 'tch' noise out the side of his mouth and scooted himself over on the already small bed. Her weight barely made the bed sink in and even though there wasn't much space to begin with, her back never touched his. She hadn't been herself since they left Rivet to make their way back into DC. Something about her was more serious, her eyes a little glossier each step along the way. Butch could only imagine what was bugging her since they steered clear of anything remotely involving emotions. They were Tunnel Snakes in his eyes. Out to drink dirty booze, shoot a lot of things in the head, and laugh at anything that came their way. 

So, when Butch began to hear gentle sobs beside him he froze up completely. He gulped and tried to keep his eyes shut, hoping his dreams would take him away from this situation. Reese heard his gulp and quickly cupped her hands over her mouth, trying to conceal her whimpering. Now Butch wasn't a bad guy. He was more of a neutral party, not really taking either side, ready to go with the flow of whatever comes his way. Girls crying wasn't his forte unless his teasing was the cause of it. And this time he hadn't done anything. At least, he thought he hadn't done anything. Did he? He tried to think of something he meant to do to make her cry, but he had left Reese alone since they left Rivet City. Was she crying because he hadn't said anything? His thoughts raced trying to figure out what she could possibly be crying over. It's not like he cared, but he needed to figure out what was up or else it was going to bother him all night and he wouldn't be able to sleep.  Sitting up, he looked down at Reese sobbing beside him and opened his mouth to speak. 

"I miss him so much." 

Butch closed his mouth and frowned. He had been wondering when daddy's little girl was going to break in front of him. But, instead of something to throw back in her face, he gently placed his hand on her arm, removing it from her mouth. With that, she unwound and sat up with him, sobs racking down her body. Butch never had to comfort anyone, so all of this was foreign to him. Mostly the fact that the girl he bullied the majority of his life was opening up to him about her father's death. Slowly, Reese ran her hands up her calves to her knees and down again, trying to soothe herself. Noticing this, Butch awkwardly placed his hand on her back to see if that would help at all. 

"Listen," his eyes everywhere but on her, " _Reese_. Your dad, he was, uh," words escaped him. He had nothing positive to say about James. The way he left Valve 101 in chaos. His escape bringing all the Vault residents hell everyday thanks to their unrelenting Overseer. He could tell she was looking at him. Staring a hole into the side of his face. 

"I had to watch him die," she choked out. "I had to watch him die. I couldn't do anything. After traveling all over this hell hole to find him, he went and died on me in a fucking glass case. How," her voice started to tremble even worse, "How could he _fucking_  leave me all alone out here??" She slammed one of her fists down into the mattress as the other covered her face, another massive sob came over her. 

Butch was at a loss. He knew her dad had died, but she never said how. And he figured he would never know. He never cared to know. She said it was over clean water, but James didn't matter to him, he was just the Doc. And, up to this moment, he didn't care much for Reese either. She was the daughter of the Doc who he used to tease to tears when they were younger. He ran his fingers through his hair. An act of nervousness. Reese helped him save his mom from those radroaches back when she was breaking out, though. She even came back to Vault 101 to set things right. And even then she asked him to come along with her on her crazy little journey. He could be living the easy life, spending his caps on some watered-down whiskey and possibly Trinnie if he spent enough on the watered-down whiskey. 

Butch looked back up at her. Reese was broken. The girl who tried so hard to fix everything was broken.  He took in a deep breath remembering the last thing she said. She thought she was alone. His eyebrows furrowed and he quickly grabbed her arm to remove it from her face once again. Coming around to kneel infront of her, he grabbed her face with both his hands making her look up at him. He finally got a good look at her swollen, watery, blood-shot eyes and his eyes softened in return. 

"Don't you dare ever say that to me again, got it?" She looked confused by him grabbing her face and his sudden stern voice. 

"W-Wha--" 

"Don't you dare ever tell me you're alone out here." He moved his thumbs over her cheeks to clear away the tears that had been spilling from her eyes. "What am I? Radraoch meat?" Reese blinked up at Butch as his tight lips formed into a smile. A smile that for a split moment made her heart flutter. Butch let go of her face and sat back beside her, putting his arm confidently around her shoulders. 

"Listen here, girl. As long as I'm here you ain't gotta worry about being alone. We're Tunnel Snakes till the end, baby! Never forget it!" He playfully rocked them side to side, earning himself a small giggle from Reese. "Yeah! That's what I'm talking about. You and me? We're going places. You're doin' your little goody-good helpin' people out thing, and I'm here for the ride and to make sure you don't make a mess of that pretty face." Reese raised an eyebrow at him, a small smile forming on her features. 

Realizing what he just said he waved his unoccupied hand off to the side. "Yeah, yeah. Don't let it get to your head. You have enough radiation buzzin' up there as it is." Butch smiled down at her, and Reese managed to weakly return it. He knew he had to say something about her dad, though. He tightened his grip on her shoulder and finally gained the courage to look her in the eyes. 

"And about the Doc," he felt her tense up again, "He... What he was trying to do. With the water? That's some brave shit. And for you to continue that? That's some even braver shit. Hell, what you're doing," his voice trailed off, his gaze slowly catching the way her teeth bit her bottom lip in anticipation. "What you're doing," Butch hazily looked back into her eyes, "Is going to save the world." Reese finally let go of the breath she had been holding in, her eyes trembling over Butch's words. This may be the first time she has ever heard Butch be genuinely nice. Other than the time she helped save his mom, but now he wasn't getting anything out of it. She couldn't hold herself back from grinning up at him. 

"Butch, you're--" 

"Amazing? Handsome? Great at killing things? Yeah, I know it." Reese couldn't help but to laugh and punch him in the gut. " _You're_ such an _ass_ ," she chuckled out as she laid herself back down on the mattress. Butch smirked, lightly rubbing his recovering gut. "Yeah, well, someone has to keep the goody-two-shoes in line, right?" Reese closed her eyes, smiling and nodding at his response. "What would I ever do without my big, mean, barbering bully?" Butch leaned his back on the wall nearest to the matress, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "I dunno. Probably still be running around with that awful haircut you got before you left the Vault." Another laugh came out of Reese as she slapped his leg again. "Shut up! I'm going to bed," she rolled herself over to face away from him. "Try not to snore too loud, you yao guai." 

Butch just continued to smirk and push air out his nose. "Whatever. Night, _princess_." Before falling into slumber, she raised her arm to flick him off and then let it drop like a rock. Not before long, her breathing deepened and she was fast asleep. Butch let out a sigh of relief, resting his head back on the wall. 

"Butchie, what have you got yourself into?" He carefully crawled away from her to rest in the chair she had been sitting in before, his hand fishing out a box of old world cigarettes he had tucked away for safe keeping. He kept his eyes on the sleeping wanderer as he lit one up, indulging in his new vice. He had some daddy issues, too. Seeing Reese have a healthy relationship with her only living parent was one of the reasons he had bullied her all those years, other than the fact she went out of her way to be a good girl all the time. It wasn't fair. He would never admit that, though. He blew out a puff of smoke to the side, his eyes never leaving Reese's sleeping face. 

Realizing his heartbeat was considerably a lot faster when he did so was another thing he would never admit.


End file.
